5000 Year Leap (7 page)

   Modern Americans have long since forgotten the heated and sometimes violent debates which took place in the thirteen colonies between 1775 and 1776 over the issue of morality. For many thousands of Americans the big question of independence hung precariously on the single, slender thread of whether or not the people were sufficiently "virtuous and moral" to govern themselves. Self-government was generally referred to as "republicanism," and it was universally acknowledged that a corrupt and selfish people could never make the principles of republicanism operate successfully. As Franklin wrote:

   "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
32

   George Washington later praised the American Constitution as the "palladium of human rights," but pointed that it could survive only "so long as there shall remain virtue in the body of the people."
33

   Morality is identified with the Ten Commandments and obedience to the Creator's mandate for "right conduct," but the early Americans identified "public virtue" as a very special quality of human maturity in character and service closely akin to the Golden Rule. As a modern historian epitomized it:

   "In a Republic, however, each man must somehow be persuaded to submerge his personal wants into the greater good of the whole. This willingness of the individual to sacrifice his private interest for the good of the community -- such patriotism or love of country -- the eighteenth century termed public virtue.... The eighteenth century mind was thoroughly convinced that a popularly based government 'cannot be supported without virtue'."
34

   The people had an instinctive thirst for independence, but there remained a haunting fear that they might not be "good enough" to make it work.

   These self-doubts were actually the eye of the hurricane during those final pre-revolutionary years when Americans were trying to decide whether they had the moral capacity for self-government. Great names of later years were among the doubters in those pre-revolutionary days. John Jay, Robert Morris, Robert Livingston, and even John Dickinson were among them. Their doubts gradually diminished as their patriotic indignation was aroused by the harsh and sometimes brutal policies of the British crown. They were also moved by the powerful expressions of faith and confidence pouring forth from men of "admired virtue" such as John Adams, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, and Josiah Quincy.

   Spirits continued to rise so that by the spring of 1776, thousands of confident voices were heard throughout the colonies affirming that there was sufficient "public virtue" in the people to make republican principles work successfully.

   One of the most strident voices in the debate was Tom Paine, whose
Common Sense
had been a best-seller. He followed up this initial success with other writings assuring Americans they were ripe for independence. He pointed out that most of the people were "industrious, frugal, and honest."

   He added that few Americans had been corrupted with riches the way people had been debilitated in Europe, where all they wanted was "luxury, indolence, amusement, and pleasure." Furthermore, there was a spirit of equality and public virtue unheard of in other nations because "the people of America are a people of property; almost every man is a freeholder."
35

   Nevertheless, there were many newspapers in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston which printed numerous letters pointing out dramatically and gruesomely the deficiencies of American society in many serious respects.

   This self-examination over a period of several years resulted in a remarkable reform movement which spread up and down the entire Atlantic seaboard.

   Many Americans became extremely self-conscious about their lack of "public virtue" because of non-involvement in the affairs of government. They began to acknowledge their obsession with self-interest, the neglect of public affairs, and their disdain for the needs of the community as a whole. Gradually, a spirit of "sacrifice and reform" became manifest in all thirteen colonies.

   Looking back on that period, one historian wrote:

   In the eyes of the Whigs, the two or three years before the Declaration of Independence a!ways appears to be the great period of the Revolution, the time of greatest denial and cohesion, when men ceased to extort and abuse one another, when families and communities seemed peculiarly united, when the courts were wonderfully free of that constant bickering over land and credit that had dominated their colonial life.
36

   Many Americans became so impressed with the improvement in the quality of life as a result of the reform movement that they were afraid they might lose it if they did not hurriedly separate from the corrupting influence of British manners. They attributed this corruption to the monarchial aristocracy of England. Even Americans such as John Jay, Robert Morris, and Robert Livingston were beginning to see that the people were exhibiting a potential capacity for virtue and morality which would guarantee the success of a free, self-governing society. Therefore, it became popular to express the sentiment that the sooner they became independent the better.

   The non-importation resolution of the Continental Congress, which required great sacrifice and devastating losses to many business houses, was carried out extensively even though it operated on a voluntary basis. It was so successful that John Page wrote to Jefferson that it appeared to him "a spirit of public virtue may transcend every private consideration."
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   Young James Madison gloried in the atmosphere of national purpose, saying that "a spirit of liberty and patriotism animates all degrees and denominations of men."
38

   It was in this climate of reform and commitment that Americans saw themselves sublimating and improving their social consciousness to the point where the continuing presence of British manners did indeed seem to be a threat to the new reform. As Gordon Wood relates it:

   By 1776 it had become increasingly evident that if they were to remain the kind of people they wanted to be they must become free of Britain. The calls for independence thus took on a tone of imperativeness.... Only separating from the British monarch and instituting republicanism, it seemed, could realize the social image the Enlightenment had drawn of them.
39

   British influence was already taking its toll. One alarmed American wrote, "Elegance, luxury and effeminacy begin to be established." David Ramsay declared that if Americans had not revolted "our frugality, industry, and simplicity of manners, would have been lost in an imitation of British extravagance, idleness and false refinements."
40

   It is only in this historical context that the modern American can appreciate the profound degree of anxiety which the Founders expressed concerning the quality of virtue and morality in their descendants. They knew that without these qualities, the Constitution they had written and the republican system of government which it provided could not be maintained. As James Madison said:

   Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men; so that we do not depend upon their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.
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   Of course, as Jefferson said, "Virtue is not hereditary."
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   Virtue has to be earned and it has to be learned. Neither is virtue a permanent quality in human nature. It has to be cultivated continually and exercised from hour to hour and from day to day. The Founders looked to the home, the school, and the churches to fuel the fires of virtue from generation to generation.

   In his Farewell Address, George Washington declared:

   "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.... Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education ... reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
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   Benjamin Franklin stressed the same point and added how precious good teachers are:

   "I think with you, that nothing is of more importance for the public weal, than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue. Wise and good men are in my opinion, the strength of the state; more so than riches or arms....

   "I think also, that general virtue is more probably to be expected and obtained from the education of youth, than from the exhortations of adult persons; bad habits and vices of the mind being, like diseases of the body, more easily prevented [in youth] than cured [in adults]. I think, moreover, that talents for the education of youth are the gift of God; and that he on whom they are bestowed, whenever a way is opened for the use of them, is as strongly called as if he heard a voice from heaven...."
44

   At the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Samuel Adams, who is sometimes called the "father of the revolution," wrote to Richard Henry Lee:

   "I thank God that I have lived to see my country independent and free. She may long enjoy her independence and freedom if she will. It depends on her virtue."
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   John Adams pointed out why the future of the United States depended upon the level of virtue and morality maintained among the people. He said:

   "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
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   Samuel Adams knew the price of American survival under a Constitutional form of government when he wrote:

   "The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy the gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people; then shall we both deserve and enjoy it. while, on the other hand, if we are universally vicious and debauched in our manners, though the form of our Constitution carries the face of the most exalted freedom, we shall in reality be the most abject slaves."
47

   Since the quality of virtue and morality in the character of a nation is the secret to its survival, one cannot help but wonder if there is some special ingredient which is fundamentally necessary to provide the greatest assurance that these qualities of our national life will be preserved.

   The Founders had an answer to this question, which brings us to our next basic precept.

   Samuel Adams pointed out a sobering fact concerning our political survival as a free people when he said:

   "But neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man."
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   He then went on to say that public officials should
not
be chosen if they are lacking in experience, training, proven virtue, and demonstrated wisdom. He said the task of the electorate is to choose those whose "fidelity has been tried in the nicest and tenderest manner, and has been ever firm and unshaken."
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   A favorite scripture of the day was Proverbs 29:2, which says: "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn."